[Colorado-talk] Fwd: [nabs-l] Fwd: Blindness -MovieDirectorFernando Meirelles interview

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi again,

It's a minor point compared to the other egregious things Meirelles
said, but I find it condescending to have my organization called
"bossy". Whether or not we overstepped our boundaries as a consumer
group, we are a consumer group and need to be respected as such even
by people who disagree with our ideas.

Another irony is that despite all the talk about the "Blindness" film
not being about real blindness, the actors in the film still went
through blindness simulations (the "camps" discussed in the
interview). If the film really has nothing to do with physical
blindness, then what was the point of having the actors experience
physical blindness for a little while?

I agree with Chris, there's not a whole lot we can do to convince
these people. But I think overall the protests were a positive sign of
our united strength in the National Federation of the Blind.

Cheers
Arielle


On 11/20/08, Chris Foster <cjfoster2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ryan,
> While I understand your concerns on how we may have been perceived by the
> director, I would encourage you to look at how ignorant in general this
> person is about our organization specifically and blindness in general.  .
> If he can speak in a widely publicized interview so incorrectly about all we
> do, than it wouldn't surprise me if he would characterize us out of a lack
> of understanding around our organization and why we are concerned.  I read a
> post recently by a blind person who works in Hollywood.  He cashed in every
> favor he could to speak to people who had control over the movie.  All of
> them basically ignored his concerns.  Everyone is of the opinion that this
> movie is about human nature and not real, physical blindness.  The irony is
> that we all know that this was the intent of the author and director.  The
> problem is not our understanding of the movie, the problem is the lack of
> understanding of a sighted public who usually has the slimmest knowledge of
> blindness.  Usually, all people know about blindness is (surprise, surprise)
> what they get in books and the media.
> Sadly, I feel that regarding this particular issue, we will go round and
> round on this one.  At the end of the day, the director has had his say and
> we have had ours.  We know blindness because we live it every day.  All we
> can do is what we do every day; spread the positive philosophy that we have
> anywhere we can.  It's late and bed is calling.  I hope that we will all use
> the Colorado talk list more for discussions such as these.  Thanks Ryan for
> responding and thanks Arielle for posting the message.  Chris Foster
> -----Original Message-----
> From: colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of RyanO
> Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 10:18 PM
> To: NFB of Colorado Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [Colorado-talk] Fwd: [nabs-l] Fwd: Blindness
> -MovieDirectorFernando Meirelles interview
>
> The director characterized our organization as, "bossy." I'm interested in
> what kind of a dialogue we had with him as far as the script went. Did we
> ask for script approval and revision privileges? If so, he may have a point
> as that might be a high-handed approach for us to take.
>
>
> RyanO
>
>
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